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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8168905" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 13: Sep/Oct 1988part 2/5The Ruins of Nol-Daer: With Gary firmly out of the company now, but TSR managing to hold onto the Greyhawk copyrights, they need to continue publishing new Greyhawk material, at least for a while, to justify all the legal hassle they went through to keep them. But since they also have the Forgotten Realms competing for that generic AD&D setting space, how do they make the two distinct? First step, take a whole load of the more goofy monsters from the Fiend Folio that were generic D&D monsters in 1e, and make them Greyhawk specific in 2e, thus downplaying them without cutting them entirely, and cementing Greyhawk as the wacky yet brutal old skool dungeon crawling setting. Second, play up the fact that the place is a battleground for the schemes of various demon lords, and fiends in general are common compared to Toril or Krynn. This adventure points the way, with an interesting dungeon filled with monsters in an uneasy alliance, some of which are very tough to take on in a fair fight at the recommended level, but it's quite possible for the players to turn them against each other or trap them and defeat them without fighting them directly. Face Jermalaine, Yellow Musk Zombies, Berbalang, Coffer Corpses, Spriggan, and a few more common enemies as well. There are plenty of tricks involved, enemies may well retreat and then return to get revenge at a time of their choosing, and there are a couple of interesting new magical items that might well be more trouble than they're worth. So this is the good kind of old school dungeon, an amusing read but a serious challenge. It's easy to throw in anywhere, but also has a very specific location in Oerth. It's the kind of thing I thoroughly approve of, as it has plenty of flavor and implied worldbuilding, and successfully melds both the grim and the goofy sides of Greyhawk that various writers will emphasise in different degrees over the years.</blockquote>

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